Soccer Themed Birthday Party

Our youngest son requested a soccer themed birthday party for his fifth birthday. He had never had a friends birthday before so we thought this would be a wonderful theme for a birthday party with friends. He was looking forward to it so much and we were excited to treat him to his first birthday party celebration with friends.

Because this was a milestone birthday and we had friends included I put a little more time and effort (and money) into this party. Generally in our family we try to stick to bigger parties for milestones.

I certainly can’t take credit for all these ideas! Pinterest was a wonderful help for the theme of this party. In fact, you can see my Soccer themed Pinterest Board if you want to see where I got some of the ideas.

Decorations

I was able to find several items for decoration online and at our local party store. These lanterns were a great score. If you can’t find pre-printed soccer lanterns then you can buy white lanterns and cut out pentagons and glue them on. It would look exactly the same. We hung these all over the place.

I also loved the addition of the “goal” banners wrapped around the poles to give the area more of a soccer feel.  Also, not pictured, leading up to the party entrance I made flags on dowels that guided the guests to the entrance. Once they made it to the entrance the last flag said “Goal!”  I wish I would’ve gotten pictures of them but I forgot. Sorry!

You can see that I made a Happy Birthday Penant too. Actually, I don’t love how it turned out because from far away it was hard to see the letters but Cody didn’t care thankfully.

I used the goody bags to decorate the table along with paper buckets of organic popcorn and the centerpiece which was the cake. I also made a big number 5. I just bought a 3-D paper cardboard number five at my local craft store and then bought some moss and covered the five with that. It made it look like grass and really stood out on the table.

Games

Cody really wanted to have games at his party and with a soccer themed birthday that was easy! Of course, we played soccer. Since we hosted at my parents house we were blessed to be able to use their huge backyard for a really soccer game. I was really impressed that some of the older kids played soccer well with the younger kids. Steve and another awesome Dad helped coach the teams and it was truly a great soccer game. The day before the party Cody helped my Dad build the goal posts out of PVC pipe he has laying around. My Dad always contributes in some way with his handy expertise!

We also played soccer ball bowling. Cody has a set of plastic bowling pins that we set up and each child got a turn rolling the soccer ball into them. Whoever got the most pins won. Each child got a little soccer themed prize for winning. The other game we played was a soccer themed twister game. This game worked a little bit better for the older kids and was a lot of fun to watch. Twister is always a crack up to see everyone all twisted around. I found this soccer themed game at our local party store.

Presents

No child’s party is complete without presents and I love to wrap the presents to match the theme of the party. With bulk roll solid color butcher paper I bought at our local party store I was able to wrap the presents to look like a soccer ball, a referee shirt and a green playing field.

 

Here is my sweet little guy enjoying his day. I still really can’t believe he is five years old. He has been one of the biggest blessings and miracles of my life and I cherish him so much.

 

Soccer Ball Cake

I had a very talented friend make this cake for Cody. Her craftsmanship in fondant is very precise and detailed and I love that. I have had other people make cakes that don’t even compare to her work. It is such a treat when she is available to make cakes for our parties. I actually made the actual cake here and she decorated it. I wanted the cake to be Paleo especially for Cody who does better without grains and dairy so I baked and my sweet friend decorated. It turned out beautiful! Cody loved it to pieces.

He is a little shy when it comes to blowing out candles (if all eyes are on him) so he was standing a bit to the side. He is always willing to help other people blow out their candles though! Lol.

 Happy 5th birthday to my special miracle!